Whatever you focus on grows in your inner life and gains power over you. You do well to carefully choose what thoughts you attend to, and which you discard. It literally shapes your reality, first in your mind, then in your actions, then your future.

It’s your head, after all. Take charge!

I can hear folks out there: “Duh, Greg. That’s all great, but it’s impossible.” or some such. Fair enough. HOW is the crucial issue here.

Forget about “Just do it:” that’s fine for a tee shirt, and terrible advice. Terrible! If you could just do it, you’d already be doing it, right? We can do better than a dumb tee shirt.

First, though, why is it that can’t simply stop thinking negative thoughts? It’s human biology: human brains aren’t built that way. Human brains are set up to focus on what IS, not on what IS NOT, whether in reality or imagination.

Did you ever try to figure out who’s missing from a group of thirty? Much harder than figuring out who’s there, right?

Try a quick experiment, OK? Follow the instructions on the line below:

DON’T think about a pink elephant. Whatever you do, don’t think about its pink trunk squirting water high into the air. Don’t!

If you’re like me, like most people, you just unwittingly managed to do the exact opposite: you imagined that pink elephant. Why? That’s what happens when a human tries NOT to think about X. Their brain finds it difficult and awkward, so it focuses attention on the target. In other words, they think about X. Defeat!

As it turns out, this story is my favorite kind: it has a happy ending.

Your conscious mind can’t hold much at once, a handful of items, total. Humans are so good at adding and removing items lightning fast, and have such vast stores of items in memory, that we don’t notice just how little we can think about at once.

Imagine your conscious mind as a stage: I imagine mine right behind my eyes. It’s small, remember? As a result, you can crowd imps right off the stage with other thoughts. It’s MUCH easier than arguing with nasty imps directly! They’re not cooperative, right? Crowd them out instead.

It takes some practice, of course – everything important does – but it works.

Try it, and please, let me know how it goes!

Focus on what you appreciate, what you love, what you want and how to get it: grow THOSE thoughts for a change, and watch your world improve.

Why keep polluting your mind like a bully you surely don’t deserve to live with.

It’s totally up to you.

Others can recommend: only YOU can do the work, and I sincerely hope you will.